Dust Bunnies and Paper Scraps
by Thalia Castellan
Summary: Constance tries to send a letter but ends up having a bit of an adventure in the process.


Okay, the first ever Mysterious Benedict Society story! Yay! Anyway, I got this idea when I was reading the beginning of the second book where Reynie is thinking about the different kinds of letters his friends send. So, I wrote this and then requested that The Mysterious Benedict Society should become a category, so yeah, that why this is here. Anyhow.......... Oh, and I know I kinda need one, but there aren't beta-readers for this category yet, so oh well.

Disclaimer, No I don't own the characters or anything really other then the candy bowl.

_Dust Bunnies and Paper Scraps._

Constance Contraire scowled up at the stamp cabinet. She did this at least three times a month when she sent letters to the only three people who she had any interest in sending letters to. This time she was trying to send one to Reynie Muldoon, as she had sent Sticky's earlier that month and was feeling to annoyed with Kate to bother with writing to her.

The offending cabinet would have been easy for a normal sized person to reach, but Constance, being only three, couldn't reach the cabinet even if she dragged a chair over and stood on her tiptoes. This caused Rhonda and Number Two to often have to listen to Constance complain about them not being around when she wanted to send a letter. After several more minutes of staring at the cabinet and wishing it would fall off the wall so she could get a stamp, Constance set the unsealed envelope on the floor and left the kitchen.

She headed to the dining room, as it was only down the hall and had a bowl of sweets she liked to raid on the table. Pushing open the heavy door, the small girl made her way to one of the chairs circling the table. When she had managed to sit on it her forehead bumped painfully against the rim of the table, adding to her annoyance.

By the time she had hauled herself onto the table, her small feet dangling over the chair, Constance was very hungry, and was hoping Rhonda had bought peppermints and chocolate. When she glanced over the table to where the small glass bowl generally sat, Constance was horrified to see that no bowl was there, nor did it appear to have been moved to the other end of the polished surface.

Constance put her hands on her hips, and stomped her foot, frustrated. Unfortunately for her, the sudden movement tipped the old table and Constance fell backwards onto the wooden floor with a loud _thump_.

"Ow!" Constance's lower lip trembled slightly as she heaved herself to her feet.

She kicked the table leg for good measure before remembering that the table was hard and it would hurt her foot to kick it. She sat down hard on the floor, clutching her aching foot. She smiled dully to herself when she remembered George Washington doing the same thing back when they were spying on Mr. Curtain.

After a few minutes of remembering how Sticky had made a fool of himself in different situations, Constance felt much better and decided to resume her search for the missing candy.

Hopping to her feet, Constance started to rack her small brian on where Rhonda was likely to hide a bowl full of candy. The piano seemed like a good possibility since it housed dozens of books, but then again, Mr. Benedict didn't like it when his books were covered in food. So Constance doubted Rhonda would hide the candy where it could drip onto the precious books.

Constance spent the better part of the morning wandering around the large house trying to think of possible hiding places for a small bowl of candy. It was nearing lunch time when she trekked into Number Two's bedroom. It was a very neat room, no cloths or tissues littered the floor like they did in Constance's room. And it was decorated with mustered yellow and other yellow colored furniture and trappings.

Glancing around Constance saw no sign of the missing candy. She was just about to turn and leave when she realized how tired she was, and how far away her room was seeming just then. And so Constance clambered up onto Number Two's bed and lay down, waiting to fall asleep.

It was an hour later when Constance woke. And, upon opening her eyes Constance saw a wondrous sight. On the bookcase, not five feet away, sat the missing bowl of candy! Excited, Constance threw off the covers and jumped out of the bed, leaving it very rumpled and untidy then it had been before she had slept in it.

The fact that the candy was just above her head didn't bother Constance, she knew exactly how she would get it down. First, she took all the covers and a blankets off he bed and put them under the bookcase, then, she grabbed a pillowcase and tossed it up over the bowl. Grabbing the end, she gave it a jerk. The candy bowl and pillowcase came tumbling downward, landing softly on the sea of bedding.

Happy that she hadn't broken the bowl, Constance sat down and started eating. There wasn't much candy left, she wished Number Two hadn't eaten most off it, and it didn't take Constance long to finish it.

When the last pice had disappeared she glanced wistfully around the room, hoping to spot for sweets. Instead, her eyes alighted on something almost a good, a large dust bunny with tiny shreds of paper stuck in it. Completely forgetting her want for more candy, Constance stood and made her way across the room to the wad of dust.

She squinted at it for a moment before scooping it up and putting it gently into her rain coat pocket. The very same rain coat she had worn to the tests not a year before, she now wore it inside because she thought it was to special to wear outside, rain or shine. Constance turned around and was about to exit the room when Number Two walked in a screamed.

"Constance Contraire! What have you done to my bed?"

Constance shrugged, "Its not like you need a bed. You never sleep."

Number Two stuttered but didn't say anything. Board of watching Mr. Benedict's assistant stand rendered speechless in the doorway, Constance pushed past her and headed down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

"Is this yours?" Rhonda held up the envelope Constance had left on the floor hours before.

Constance nodded and took the envelope. She looked at it closely for a moment before digging into her pocket a bring out the dust bunny she had found in Number Two's room.

"Good bye Lollipop, Reynie will take good care of you." Constance looked at the dust bunny very seriously before sliding it into the envelope next to the poem about meatloaf she'd composed the night before.

"Did you really just call that dust lion 'lollipop'?" Rhonda asked, amazed.

"He's not a dust lion, he's a dust bunny. And I need a stamp." Constance carefully sealed the letter while waiting for Rhonda to reach into the high cabinet and give her a cat stamp.

"Next time say please." Rhonda said as she handed over the stamp.

Constance inspected the stamp carefully, "Its not a cat."

Rhonda sighed, "You used the last cat stamp to send Sticky a letter."

"Oh." Was all Constance said, she was to busy examining the stamp to tell Rhonda to go buy more cat stamps.

It was two minutes later when Constance moved, and it wasn't to put the offending stamp on the outside of the envelope. Instead, she stuck the stamp onto her finger and walked away from Rhonda and into the next room, leaving the letter unstamped and unaddressed.

Rhonda sighed and wrote Reynie's address and their return address on the front of the envelope before reaching back into the cabinet for another stamp. She had pressed it onto the white surface before she took a good look at it.

On the little rectangle was a picture of a peppermint. Rhonda threw the letter down on the counter and bolted after Constance. Fully aware that the little girl was most likely headed to Mr. Benedict's office to ask for candy.

Five minutes after Rhonda's departure, Number Two walked into the kitchen. By chance she happened to glance down at the counter and saw the envelope.

"How nice. She's written to someone, I suppose I ought to mail it."

And so, Number Two rushed outside and put the letter in the mailbox. When she got back inside Rhonda and Constance were running around the kitchen, Constance carrying a bag of what looked suspiciously like peppermints, and Mr. Benedict fast asleep on a chair, no doubt having fallen asleep laughing.


End file.
